I have seen a couple things recently that got me thinking about the concept of failure from the perspective of one’s career and/or professional aspirations. Having been involved in entrepreneurial pursuits since the infancy of my working life, “success” and “failure” have always been extremely fluid concepts, changing with almost every new realization, idea, or opportunity. For others, the concepts may be more rigidly defined, even if those definitions are more perception than reality.

I came across Justin Driscoll’s Blog the other day and saw his post referencing Seth Godin’s post on The Tyranny of Opportunity Cost. The points I gathered from Seth are as follows:

If you make all your decisions based on opportunity cost and the fear of failure, you’re almost certain to fail. Safe really is risky.
…
Failure now means never failing.

I like what he’s saying there, that sometimes the biggest risk is not taking one and that there can be nothing gained if nothing is ventured, etc. Seth was speaking from the perspective of major corporations and their hesitancy to innovate after they have achieved a certain “safe” level of success.

Although few of us are heading major corporations, I think his points are very applicable from an entrepreneurial standpoint, but they hold great value for employed professionals as well.

How can you determine your professional worth if you are not willing to test the ceiling of your abilities? What is your ultimate goal? What might you discover should you attempt to reach it and not quite get there - or will you find an entirely new path along the way?

There is a great quote in the February issue of Rolling Stone from John Mayer (it’s actually a quote from a 2004 issue of Rolling Stone) that I think really sums up how fluid and important our understanding of failure can be. He said:

Who I am as a guitarist is defined by my failure to become Jimi Hendrix.

Mayer is one of the biggest stars in music and has established himself as a reputable singer-songwriter, yet he refers to a great personal “failure” when defining himself as a musician. He goes on to explain that, despite his best efforts, he simply could not play like Hendrix. He estimates that no one can. During the process of failing to emulate a legend, he found his sound, his niche. Anyone that has heard of him would almost certainly define Mayer as wildly successful. Yet failure was his vehicle.

Through “failure” he found knowledge and a greater sense of identity. I think that can be true for all of us.

Tags: career advancement, career discovery, entrepreneurship, professional fulfillment

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